1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a system and method for controlling unwanted Email and organizing Email in general.
2. Description of Prior Art
Email is now a universal means of communication, augmenting, and sometimes replacing other traditional forms of communication, including postal service, FAX, and voice communications. The ease of composing and the speed of transmitting Email, and the presence of the Internet in almost every corner of the world has promoted its use, which promises to become almost omnipresent.
The ease of use and speed of transmission has created problems, however, which include the transmission of unwanted messages, so-called “Spam”, the equivalent of junk mail in postal service jargon. And unlike postal service junk mail, the transmission of Spam is virtually free for the senders, as most Internet Service Providers provide unlimited usage for modest fees.
Many Email systems provide means to filter and block unwanted messages. As an example, consider the system used by Hotmail.com®, Microsoft's Website-based Email system, which can be accessed at http://www.hotmail.com.
In hotmail.com's blocking system, typical incoming Email can be directed to the user's Inbox if and only if:
(a) The Email address appears on the “To:” or “Cc:” line.
(b) The sender's address appears in the user's Hotmail Address Book.
(c) It is from a user in the hotmail.com or msn.com domain.
(d) It is a Hotmail WebCourier or Special Offers Subscription, Hotmail Member Letter, or is from Microsoft, MSN, or a Microsoft Passport partner site.
These blocking and filtering features are typical attempts to reject unwanted Email, or “Spam”, but they have a number of drawbacks: For instance, many of these prior art systems blocking features do not allow Email communications which may be wanted by the recipient, although the recipient did not foresee communications from the sender. In addition, the unwanted sender of Email may continually change his Email address, so that the recipient cannot block Spam from a particular sender simply by blocking a single address. And finally, the Email recipient is constantly in danger of revealing his Email address to new potential Spammers by sending Email messages to new recipients.
The present invention overcomes these problems by the simple expedient of never revealing his true Email address, but rather by using a series of alias addresses which are first intercepted by an Alias Email server before being forwarded to the recipient, and by providing means for the recipient to identify the circumstances under which the alias Email address was issued, and to whom it was issued. When a particular alias Email address becomes the target of excessive Spam, the user can abandon that alias Email address, and create a new one.
In addition to controlling Spam, the current invention also provides a useful means for organizing Email messages in general. The invention provides a means to identify Email message as to a number of important parameters not provided by normal Email systems.